Though I disagree with the legality and ethics of the mentioned police tactics, I had to share what one of the comments had to say that I felt was particularly interesting.

Most folks don’t appreciate the psychologically caustic environment that police, particularly those on the street in dense urban areas, have to deal with day in and day out. It’s easy to be on the outside and judge, and most of them do have a gritty quality that rubs folks the wrong way, but that is the same quality that enables them to perform a very necessary function for society.
If you dont believe me, go work in a slaughterhouse for a week killing animals three times your body mass. When you can’t walk through a meat isle at the grocer without a sense of recollection, you will have an tangible example of what I mean. -Crazy Cooter

At first glance in a video I saw of the anarchists marching on Olympia for May Day 2008 I thought someone had spelled racist wrong on a capital building tagging. When I came across the picture above I realized that the word was actually resist. Then wait a minute they spelled hierarchical tyranny wrong. Which I suppose is either due to a lack of a spell checker on the marble or par for the course with anarchical concepts of organized public education.

I love these demonstrations and protest especially when the meaning is lost through needless violence and destruction. To me this is democracy in action. Though I disagree with their means and the ideals they base them on, democracy is a messy endeavor that our country was founded on. And though their shoes may be made of petroleum based material, while they scream “No Oil”, the irony of an organized group of anarchists may be overshadowed by the contradiction of strongly supporting one form of government such as a worker’s union over another such as local, state, and federal.

There was one protestor who was confused why a police officer pointed a weapon at him as he approached while arresting someone. Judging by the misspellings and contradictions I could see how such confusion would ensue from being a part of a mass protest turned to violence when confronting the police. Of course you’re going to be arrested and possibly hurt. If you’re going to a first amendment protected gathering like this expect it. If you’re not willing to suffer the hardships of democracy then stay at home and brood over your Cascadian web rings. There have been over 4,000 deaths and more than 23,000 wounded veterans for the ideal of preserving the democracy that allows you to demonstrate your views. The least you could do is take pride in your sacrifice for your greater cause while you are being hit with pepper spray paint balls and taken into custody.